Tarrant County College is changing its tagline.

The “Tomorrow Starts Here” line was tagged in 2005, said Reginald Gates, communications and external affairs vice chancellor. The only problem is that East Carolina University, a large public four-year university in Greenville, N.C., already has the line trademarked.

“The tagline will be developed through our public relations/marketing and graphics department in conjunction with the Warren Douglas Agency,” Gates said. 

Warren Douglas Advertising, a Fort Worth-based group, specializes in marketing, public relations and branding. According to the agency’s website, businesses and enterprises need “creative solutions” that are effective. Steven Russell, a Warren

Douglas spokesperson, said the agency has created focus groups and is planning to consult with students, administrators and faculty members to come up with a new tagline. They’ve already met with the chancellor but are not sure how long it will take to create the new tagline.

“We’ve not established a timeline as of yet,” Gates said. “However, we want to make certain that all stakeholders are involved in the visioning process.”

TR student Nathan Peoples said a college needs a message to share with prospective students so students know what sort of future they’re investing in.

“Everybody has a message,” he said. “For some people, today is on hold. We are sharing the vision of college, that tomorrow starts today and today starts here at TCC.”

TCC will trademark its new tagline, Gates said. With TCC working with a third party on the tagline, the board can secure a new tagline because the agency can use data to check trademarks across the country. To ensure that the new tagline isn’t in use, Gates said TCC will conduct a broad review of existing trademarks and contact the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to confirm.

“If it’s not taken, we should change it to ‘Tomorrow starts today,’” Peoples said.

While the board searches for a new tag, there will be no official line.

­­—Kirsten Mahon